03/16/05 Should U.S. have wheat deal with China?

Farm and Ranch March 15, 2005 A Chinese official was recently quoted as saying his country wouldn't need much in the way of wheat imports this year. That's "malarky" according to analyst Joe Victor of Allendale Commodities in Illinois. But Victor wishes somebody, either the USDA or the National Association of Wheat Growers, would get more aggressive and push for a memorandum of understanding with China on wheat purchases. He says the U.S. is playing third fiddle behind Canada and Australia, both of which have MOUs with China. Victor: "Where is the memorandum of understanding from the United States to China. If anyone should be insulted we should be insulted the most for the fact that when we look at the trade levels between those four countries involved, I do believe we have a larger trade imbalance with China than Canada or Australia does. And it would sure be nice that instead of sitting out here waiting for our turn we need to be a little bit more aggressive in going out there. And even if it is only a memorandum of understanding that is not a signed, sealed, delivered contract, it sure would be nice to give wheat a shot in the arm and say hey, we too now have a memorandum of understanding that we are going to have at least a million to two million tons of wheat destined for China." Back in the 1980`s the U.S. did have some memorandums of understanding on grain imports with China and the then Soviet Union. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.